Thursday 23-01-2025 - 13:52

Maria, Natalie, and Rhobyn - your chosen Union Presidents - have been super busy since starting their roles in June 2024.

Between them, they’ve been lobbying MPs to help make student lives better listening to your thoughts and concerns, running campaigns around wellness, Black History Month, Disability Awareness, and doing all they can to make your student experience the best it can be!

But the best people to tell you all about it are the Presidents themselves! So, we're handing this over to them.

Maria Dinu, Group President 

What I’ve done so far

Firstly, I’ve attended multiple conferences such as NUS Lead and Change, the Welsh SU conference in Cardiff and two MEDR conferences. These gave me the opportunity to meet and network with Sabbatical Officers from other universities and gain more insight into the future of Higher Education. 

Myself and the other Presidents have reviewed and worked on changes for the Student Charter along with the Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Academic Experience and the Director of Academic Experience. The Student Charter refers to an agreement between the students, the University, the Students’ Union, and all other collaborative partnership institutions; the Student Charter is a public document and is available for everyone to view on the University’s website

I have launched Your Voice, My Ears in London in early October. These are drop-in sessions, where students can meet with me directly to give feedback on what they would like me to lobby on/which issues are impacting the student experience.

I have reached out and lobbied Members of Parliament (MPs) who represent the constituency of each respective UWTSD campus, and I met with two of them in Westminster on the 23rd October; I was lobbying regarding the issues affecting students across the Higher Education sector, focusing on housing and guarantors/the Renters’ Rights Bill. 

I engage in and contribute to the catch-ups between the Sabbatical Officers and the Vice-Chancellor to ensure that the students’ voice is heard by the university faculty who direct the university’s strategic direction, plan, and decisions. 

I’m working with the University’s London and Birmingham Operations teams to improve the accessibility of the vending machines across London and Birmingham and ensuring Halal foods are clearly labelled.

For Disability History Month, I collaborated with the University on a supporting students with disabilities awareness campaign to help students navigate university processes and give guidance around accessing the Disabled Students' Allowance.

What's Next?

I am currently working on the plan for my LGBTQ+ History Month campaign and Women's History Month campaign; updates to follow soon! I am also actively working with university faculty on the London and Birmingham campuses to create more inclusive and accessible spaces for students. 

Natalie Beard, Swansea Campus President

What I’ve done so far 

I met with Vikki Howells MS, Minister for Further & Higher Education in Welsh Government. Vikki spoke about her priority areas, and I was pleased to hear that student mental health would be one of her priorities, as it has always been one of my main focuses and I plan to continue to support student wellbeing with various projects for the last 6 months of my role.

I’ve worked with the university to raise awareness of the well-being support available to students. I have also been working with the Wellbeing Team to review and give suggestions on the training offered to staff and students.

I’ve been attending training sessions to help me better support students. So far I’ve attended first aid at work, mental health first aid, Safetalk suicide awareness, first-responder, Papyrus project & suicidal ideation, domestic violence and stalking awareness (South Wales Police), vulnerabilities, and sexual harassment/violence training.

I worked with the local policing team to create student safety communications, alongside the University, and Swansea University and Swansea University Students’ Union - this project is hopefully launching soon.

Our social spaces project has started in Swansea, with a social space available for students to use in the Dylan Thomas Centre whenever the room is not in use. We also had a free-to-use microwave and kettle in Dynevor Café so students can warm their own food and drink. 

What's Next?

I'm launching my Cost-of-Living campaign to help students who are currently struggling with rising costs by giving away free sanitary and hygiene products and asking student how they’d like to be supported in the future.

We’re continuing our work to get more social spaces and equipment across campuses in Swansea. 

Rhobyn Grant, Lampeter Campus President

What I’ve done so far

For Black History Month we ran activities, events, and workshops. These included an anti-racism workshop, Movie Nights. Open Mic Night. Decolonizing the Curriculum Panel Discussion, Writing Heritage workshop with Tunji Offeyi, and creative Reclaiming Narratives bookmarks alongside our book scavenger hunt. Through these events, we promoted conversations about race, culture, heritage, and decolonizing the curriculum, creating spaces for learning and discussion. You can learn more on our Black History Month wrap-up blog

Additionally, in collaboration with the University, we have filmed and are currently editing a short video about decolonizing the curriculum to be used as part of the Curriculum review staff training sessions. Also, a longer, more in-depth training session is in the works to be finished by late January 2025.

I’ve been working with Lampeter students to ensure they are heard and supported in our Future of Lampeter campaign in light of the University’s proposal to move Humanities courses from Lampeter to Carmarthen effective September 2025. 

What’s up next

Eradicating Discrimination and Promoting Diversity. This is an ongoing campaign to foster an inclusive environment. Events like the Anti-Racism Workshop and Open Mic Night have contributed to this goal. 

Additionally, I am working together with the university to promote its Youth Leadership programme which runs in different batches from November 2024 until August 2025.

Ongoing collaboration with the Race Equality Charter, to discuss and formulate inclusive policy and system reform. And I am also working with the University International Mobility Board and Go Global Initiative to help raise awareness about and promote study abroad programs to students.

Partnering with Student Services, we’re planning workshops for mental health awareness in the upcoming year. 

Currently, we are working with Student services to facilitate/promote an online Sexual Health Awareness Workshop for students to attend in February. We’re liaising with Student Services to ensure students are educated and properly signposted to where they can access any help they need. 

We told you they’ve been up to lots. Follow us on Instagram to stay posted on new developments. And if you have any questions, drop them an email at maria.dinu@uwtsd.ac.uk, rhobyn.grant@uwtsd.ac.uk, and natalie.beard@uwtsd.ac.uk. 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•